Summer at the Potters
by LeanaM
Summary: It's Scorpius Malfoy's last day as a Sixth Year and he's looking forward to spending the summer holidays with the Potters. Or is he? A certain redhead might make things difficult. Fluff.


"Oy, Scorp, quit dreaming and pay attention!"

Rose Weasley snapped her fingers in front of his face, startling him.

"Come on, Scorp, it's no fun playing chess if you're not even trying," Rose said, pouting.

Scorpius just shook his head and grinned apologetically.

"Sorry, Rose, I was miles away."

He glanced down at the chess massacre between them and sighed.

"Not like I have a chance in hell of beating you even when I do try."

Rose just smirked.

"Well, if you're not going to play, maybe I'll go and find Al."

"Yeah."

"We could dress up as dragons and go scare the house elves."

"Mhm."

"And then maybe McGonagall will jump on the High Table and sing the Hogwarts School Song to the tune of Hot Hot Cauldron."

"Sure."

Scorpius was staring at the Black Lake again, lost in thoughts, his fingers absently palying with the grass. Rose gave him a hard shove.

"Seriously, mate, what's wrong with you? Exams are over, we're going home for the summer tomorrow, what on earth can you be worrying about?"

Scorpius mumbled another apology.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were hopelessly pining for a girl," Rose teased.

He blushed bright red.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Rose."

She giggled.

"Really? Because it looks like I hit a nerve, there…"

"Cut it out, Weasley," he snapped.

But she couldn't just leave it. Scorpius Malfoy was one of her best friends since they'd worked together in Potions in their first year, and up until then they'd always confided in one another about their crushes and relationships.

"Come on, Scorp. You know you can tell me, who is she?" she prodded.

Scorpius just shook his head.

"Nobody. Please, just leave it."

"But..."

"I said, leave it," Scorpius said, standing up abruptly. "I'm going back to my dorm, I need to finish packing."

"I thought you'd finished this morning!" Rose yelled at his retreating back. When he didn't react, she snickered and then stretched out on the grass. It was a lovely spring day, after all, and she didn't want to return to the castle until she absolutely had to.

Scorpius was stomping through the hallways to Ravenclaw tower, when someone grabbed his arm. He shook it violently.

"What?" he snarled, turning around.

Albus Potter blinked in surprise.

"What's got your knickers in a twist, then?"

Scorpius closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Sorry, Al, just… Nothing, really. Losing to Rose in chess again. Summer hols. I don't know."

"Summer hols? Aren't you looking forward to it? You'll be spending a couple of weeks with us, that has to be better than a whole summer at that dreary manor on your own!"

'Or worse…' Scorpius thought. But he smiled all the same. He liked spending time with the Potters.

"True. But that's more than three weeks from now. And I'll be spending that time at that dreary manor, you know what my dad is like. Family first and all that jazz."

"Maybe it won't be so bad this time," Al said.

"Yeah, maybe," Scorpius said. Then he turned around again. "I need to finish packing," he said over his shoulder. "See you at dinner?"

"We'll have to sit at our House tables tonight," Albus said.

Scorpius made a face.

"Argh, forgot about that. Well, maybe after dinner then."

When Scorpius finally made it to his dorm room, he was relieved to find it empty. Of course it would be empty. It was the last day of the school year, no classes, no homework, and the weather was gorgeous, so everyone was out in the grounds. When he looked out of his window in Ravenclaw tower, he could see clusters of students dotted across the lawn. He was probably the only one left inside, but he really had to get away from Rose's nagging, he knew she wouldn't stop now she thought she was on to something.

It didn't help that he _had_ been thinking about a girl, of course, which was why he'd flushed bright red with embarrassment at her teasing. Rose was a great friend, and usually the one he went to with girl problems, but this time… this time he really couldn't say anything to either of his best friends. How could he tell Albus he was falling in love with his little sister? How could he tell Rose that he was head over heels for her baby cousin? Lily was the youngest of the Weasley-Potter children, and therefore all her cousins regarded her as the baby, and all of them were fiercely protective. He remembered Al's reaction when that idiot Thomas Nott had started dating Lily back in September and ended up breaking her heart a couple of months later. Nott had been on the receiving end of a vast number of surreptitiously cast hexes for weeks. He'd become very familiar with the Bat Bogey Hex, a family favourite.

Lily was still rather down when the Christmas holidays came around, and both he and Al had made it their mission to make her smile again. By the time they had to go back to Hogwarts, she seemed to have gotten over it, and he was glad she was smiling again. But when she hugged them both and whispered in their ears that she was so lucky to have such wonderful brothers, helping her get over a bad break-up, it felt like a punch to his stomach. She saw him as a brother. And he most certainly wasn't thinking of her as a sister, not any more.

Scorpius stretched out on his bed, buried his face in his pillow and let out a frustrated scream. The prospect of spending a couple of weeks in the same house as Lily now sounded like sweet torture. How great it would be, seeing her every day, the sparkle in her eyes as she passionately argued with James or Hugo, her laughter at James' and Albus' antics, her relaxed smile when she was reading… But he'd have to smile and act as if she was no more than his best friend's little sister, and that was hard enough when their paths crossed at Hogwarts. How would he keep it up when thrown together with her for weeks? Maybe he could try to get out of it - tell the Potters that his parents wanted to make up for the Christmas holiday they'd had to spend away from him, so he couldn't take them up on their offer to stay during the summer… Yes, maybe that could work. Of course he'd miss Al and Rose, but maybe he could survive this one summer with just his cousins for company? Those two months suddenly seemed endless…

* * *

Scorpius made his way through the Hogwarts Express, one last Prefect duty before the end of the school year. He'd managed to avoid Rose for most of the day, knowing she would ask more embarrassing questions as soon as she saw him. She'd pestered him all through the End-of-Term Feast, and then some. Luckily Al had been at the Gryffindor table, and couldn't join in.

He glanced into a compartment and was about to walk on when he froze. Lily Potter was sitting alone, gazing out at the passing landscape, a soft smile on her lips, her fingers twirling her long red hair. He didn't want to interrupt her and made to walk on, but she caught the movement in the corner of her eyes and turned to him.

"Hey," she said.

"Eh… Hi, Lily," he said. Smooth, he thought. Think of something to say. Anything.

"Do you want to join me?"

She motioned at the bench opposite and smiled at him, a brilliant smile that seemed to light up the whole world.

"I.."

Scorpius cleared his throat, his cheeks turning slightly pink.

"I'm patrolling, actually, so…"

Lily's smile dropped slightly.

"Oh. But surely you can sit down for just a bit? I wouldn't mind the company."

Scorpius swallowed quickly, then smiled. "Well, if you put it that way…"

He settled himself on the bench across from her, a contented sigh escaping as he got comfortable. He'd been on his feet since they'd left Hogwarts and it felt good to finally sit down. He stretched his legs, his feet brushing hers, and turned bright red.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"That's okay," she said.

They were quiet for a few moments.

"So, looking forward to summer?" he asked, trying to get the conversation going.

"Yeah, one last breather before O.W.L.s year… Mum's promised to take us to the Quidditch Finals, and Aunt Fleur said I might join them in France in August. That's still a long way away though."

"Sounds like fun," Scorpius said, at a loss of what to say next.

"Al said you'll be staying with us for a few weeks too?"

"Yeah, I mean, if my parents say I can. They might want to keep me around a bit more because we didn't see each other at Christmas."

Scorpius glanced out the window, mentally berating himself for being such a coward. But he still wasn't sure about staying in the same house as Lily for an extended period of time. Just sitting in the same compartment was uncomfortable.

"Oh."

She sounded disappointed.

The rocking of the speeding train relaxed Scorpius. He stifled a yawn.

"Tired?" Lily asked.

"Yeah. Didn't get much sleep last night."

"Don't tell me you goody-two-shoes Ravenclaws had an End-of-Year party," she teased.

"Nah, just couldn't seem to get my brain to shut up. Had trouble falling asleep."

"What were you thinking of?"

 _You._

"Nothing in particular, just, summer, N.E.W.T.s, career, family, dunno. It just didn't stop."

He stifled another yawn, and Lily laughed. "Go on, you poor thing, have a kip. I'll wake you up before we get to London.

Scorpius shook his head and made to get up, but he was shoved down again before he could find his balance.

"Sleep, Scorpius. I promise I'll wake you up," Lily said, softly, as she pulled down the blinds and closed the compartment door.

Scorpius wanted to get up, he had to patrol after all, and he couldn't seriously fall asleep with Lily Potter sitting across from him. But the seats were comfortable, he really was dead tired, and the gentle rocking of the train sent him off before he could voice any coherent arguments.

Lily Potter smiled as her brother's best friend snuggled into a corner, his long legs dangling off the seats, his face slowly relaxing as he fell asleep.

A gentle hand shook his shoulder, and he heard a voice whisper his name.

"Scorpius, wake up."

He groaned and turned away, wanting to pull his covers over his head.

"Five more minutes" he mumbled.

"Scorpius, come on, you need to wake up now."

The voice was insistent. He blearily opened his eyes and recognised the girl standing over him, shaking his shoulders in an effort to wake him up.

"Lily?"

She smiled, her hands still on his shoulders, her face so close he could see the freckles on her nose, the gold and silver specks in her brilliant blue eyes, and her lips… They were moving but he had no idea what she was saying. He was mesmerised by those lips.

Lily gave him another shake.

"Come on, you know you should show your face with the other prefects. We're about an hour away from London, you really need to get up now."

"I can't," he murmured.

She frowned.

"Why not?"

"If I get up right this instant, we'd probably both end up with concussions."

"What?"

"You're too close, we'd bump heads or something."

He flushed bright red, realising right away how lame that sounded.

Understanding flashed in her eyes, and one of the corners of her mouth turned up in amusement. Scorpius looked at her lips again, curled in that tantalising half-smile that made him forget everything. And she didn't move away.

Before he realised what he was doing, his hand reached up to tuck a strand of her long red hair behind her ear. She bit her lower lip as his hand lingered.

He swallowed, and his mouth parted, his tongue darting out to lick his dry lips.

"Lily…" he murmured, as his hand slid down her cheek and his thumb started to trace her lips, releasing her lower lip from her teeth. Forbidden fruit. So close, and yet so beyond his reach.

"Lily, you really should move now," he said softly.

Lily drew in a shaky breath, and then leaned in a little closer.

"Maybe I don't want to," she whispered, her breath hot on his lips.

His eyes snapped to hers, seeing a myriad of emotions in her blue eyes, love, insecurity, longing.

He slowly moved forward until his lips were pressed on hers. His eyes closed as he relished in the feeling of her soft lips moving against his. He didn't dare make another movement for fear of waking up from this wonderful dream.

Then her lips parted and her tongue slid along the seam of his mouth and he couldn't help the moan that came from deep within his throat. His lips opened and her tongue started caressing his own, teasing, enticing. She tasted of pumpkin pasties and chocolate frogs. His hands tangled in her hair and he pulled her closer. He never wanted to let her go again.

The kiss seemed to last forever and was over in an instant all at the same time. Lily pulled away, leaving the both of them breathing heavily, just staring at each other. Scorpius knew he should say something, but he was at a loss. And she was smiling again, that little half-smile that obliterated any possibility of rational thought.

They were distracted by two arguing voices in the corridor, and Lily jumped to the other bench across from Scorpius moments before the door to their compartment slid open.

"Seriously, Rose, you're such a busybody. Leave him alone, if he wants your advice on his woman troubles, he'll ask for it."

Albus walked into the compartment and settled next to his sister.

Rose huffed, pushed Scorpius' legs off the seats and sat down next to him.

Scorpius straightened, running a hand through his hair, still looking dazed.

Albus glanced at him and just shook his head.

"Where have you been? Couldn't find you earlier, there was a massive ruckus in carriage four, Milla Jordan's tarantula escaped and it took us ages to find it and reassure the ickle Firsties that the monster was back in its cage. You should have heard Nott and Greengrass whine and scream when they realised that spider was on the loose…"

He chuckled, still amused.

"I fell asleep. Didn't sleep much last night. Sorry."

"You look a bit… weird…" Rose said, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Only just woke up, Rose, I'm still half asleep I'm sure."

"Well, you better wake yourself up now, we need to get to the Prefect's carriage to report and then it's summer!"

Albus and Rose got up again and wandered out of the compartment and down the corridor.

Scorpius followed them, a little slower, still not sure about what had just happened.

He stopped when Lily's hand reached for his.

"I hope you can convince your parents to let you stay over this summer," she said, "I'd like to see you again before September."

He turned to look at her, and she smirked at him. He hesitated, then he pulled her closer and softly kissed her again. Their second kiss was short and sweet.

"I'm sure that can be arranged, Miss Potter."

He smiled at her and then hurried after his friends. Maybe summer at the Potters' wouldn't be so bad after all.

* * *

 **A/N** \- I am not JK Rowling, I make no money out of this, I don't own the characters.


End file.
